Brian Brobbey scored his first goals of the campaign as Sunderland fell to defeat against Man City

Granit Xhaka has praised Brian Brobbey's 'unselfish' playing style as the striker's season roared into life with a brilliant hattrick at Manchester City.

Though it was a day of frustration for Sunderland as they eventually fell to a 5-3 defeat, there were positives to take from their overall performance and Brobbey's scintillating display was the highlight. While it was a big boost for the Black Cats to see their main striker got off the mark for the campaign, Xhaka insists that goals only tell part of the story when it comes to Brobbey's contribution in a Sunderland shirt.

"He's so important for us and you could see that against Man City," Xhaka said.

"He was fresh after he didn't start in Europe, you could see that as well. I'm so happy for him because of course with strikers you need the statistics and the numbers but I'm not a big fan of numbers, I'm a big fan of how he helps the team, and today he helped and he scored three times, and it's a shame that we didn't take something from him to take with the three goals as well."

The Echo has launched a new WhatsApp SAFC Channel to bring the latest news, analysis and team & injury updates direct to your phone. Simply click this link to join our SAFC WhatsApp channel.

Brobbey's hat trick also meant that it took just days for Xhaka and head coach Régis Le Bris's prediction that the striker would soon be scoring to be realised.

Discussing Brobbey ahead of the clash with AZ Alkmaar in midweek, Xhaka said: "First of all, Brian is a lovely guy on the pitch, and on the pitch he's very, very important for us," Xhaka said.

"He's a big striker who improved himself the last couple of months as well. He's a guy who is not selfish, he works very hard for the team, with the ball, without the ball. Of course people will say, yeah, but he's not scoring enough, but I don't really care about the numbers, I care about how much he works for the team.

"We know how important he is for us. He will get his goals as well, he will get his numbers as well, but we are very happy that we have him on our team."

Brobbey is in action for the Netherlands on Thursday night when they face Germany.

Your next Sunderland read: Régis Le Bris issues Habib Diarra update and has bullish Sunderland message after Premier League defeats